Fishing
Reports & Commentary
from Mike
Cook
Mike
Cook - Four Lake Guides
July 3, 2015 - Meet Gary and Jim Smith,77 and 84 years young. I hope I am in as good a shape as they are when and if I make it that far. They wanted to do some trolling for wipers or white bass and if that didn't work out anything that would cooperate. I told them I thought I could help them. I picked them up at their hotel, they are both from the suberbs of Kansas city.
Marion was still way high because they can't release water because everything downstream is still flooded. I chose Marion because of the holiday weekend. I figured the lake would be less crowded than Cheney or El Dorado and I was right. The parks are also posted with a blue algea warning which kept a lot of pleasure boaters at other lakes.
Okay back to fishing. We trolled some of my favorite spots for whites with not a bump. Even tried up in the river for a bit. Same results. So after wasting a couple of hours it was time to change species. Catfish of course. The first anchored spot we caught one and missed one. But that was enough to let me know where the fish were going to be on this day. The second spot we really got into them. Jim caught three before Gary could get a rod to bend. Boy was I busy for awhile. When we finally left that spot we had two sacks of channel cats pushing the scales to about 60 pounds with the biggest a real brusier going about 12 pounds. We tried several more spots catching small pound or little larger maybe but not adding any more to the fish already in the bags.
By 2:00 we had enough of the July weather to call it a day even though with the cloud cover and the breeze from the north and then from the east it was a very pleasant day. We will try again on another day for the wipers and white bass.
June 13, 2015 - Yeah that's right. Finally an update. Meet three fun guys from Salina Kansas. Scott and Malcolm Gardner, father and son and cousin Rich Allen. Cheney is higher then it has been in quite a while. We have been catching a lot of fish and big ones in the past five or six weeks. Im talking about channel cats 20 pounds plus on Secret 7. Thats right, big fish on cheese bait. So don't believe the myth that you can't catch big fish on dip bait. I've been doing it for 30 years.
Back to the fishing trip. Started at eight in the morning. Big front came through and really was just past being right on top of us. Temperature drop of 20 degrees, thunder storms and inch and a half of rain. Pre-spawn fish. Started in the creeks figuring the fish would be taking advantage of the new water. Strike one! On to the willow trees. Strike two! On to the big timber. Strike three! Not only three strikes but not a single bite, nothing, nada! I'm beyond getting a little nervous. They are like par for the course. I told them I didn't play golf.
Long boat ride up to the river and we catch our first fish. A little pound and a half little fella but our first one. The second one came pretty quick and the third was the biggest that Scott had ever caught in his life. A solid 15 pound plus pig! We caught nine fish from noon till two then nothing again. Strange day! We cried mercy at four and called it a day. They were a lot happier with the day than I was. It was a successful ending of a rough day and we all had a lot of fun in between and I guess that's all that matters.
April 2015 - Mike's wife Teresa starts the 2015 season with a channel cat that qualifies as a Kansas Master Angler catch.
Saturday July 13, 2013. El Dorado flathead trip with Eric Traffas. The day was overcast with about a 20 mph wind from the southeast. A little to windy to vertical jig fish the trees on the creek channels. Just to dangerous. So we concentrated on the rip rap areas. We jig fished with 1 ounce lead head jigs tipped with 3 inch goldfish and 5 inch black sunfish. The sunfish were a little big for what I like but the goldfish were perfect.
When we started fishing I told Eric to crappie fish. He asked,"crappie fish?" I said just pretend you are crappie fishing. He said ok, understanding what I was wanting him to do. He started with a sunfish and me a goldfish. We fished rip rap areas from 6 to 20 feet deep. Fishing from about 5 or 5:30 until about 7:30 or 8 o'clock. Not a bump.
We headed to a feeding area at 8 so we could set the anchors to fish after dark. I don't move around after dark except to go home. Murphy's law. Whatever will go wrong after dark will and whatever can't go wrong will anyway. So once I set the anchors for flathead, we are there til we quit.
I had asked Eric to bring his flathead rods and reels cuz I am short on my supply of flathead gear due to not having replaced them all since the divorce. That's all I have to say about that as Forrest Gump would say.
So while I was transferring some of my heavier reels to my flathead rods and changing the rigging from dip bait channel cats to livebait flathead stuff, Eric wasted no time in baiting his up and getting them in the water.
Let me tell you a little bit about Eric. He is a fun guy to fish with who loves to catch fish of all species, but particularly the big cats. He fishes with me several times a year and also goes to Virginia and fishes the James River for giant blues. He has caught 60 and 70 pound blues and 2 and 3 pound crappie. So he knows what he is doing with a rod and reel.
Ok. So it didn't take me long and we each had 3 baits in the water. He made himself comfortable in the front deck swivel seat while I ran around getting lights going on the boat along with a couple of Coleman lanterns. Everything was pretty quiet except for the occasional splash made by some predator fish filling its mouth then belly with some unfortunate bait fish.The wind seemed to get stronger as the night got darker. A little backwards from what normally happens, it seems.
Every once in a while one of our baits would get excited and transmit those feelings to us by way of our rod tips. But that was about the only thing keeping me awake. Until my center rod tip showed a little more excitement than normal. Before I could say anything to Eric the rod doubled over hard in the rod holder. I grabbed the rod and struggled to remove it from the rod holder before I could get it out to put a good hookset on the fish. Eric is a big man but I think he ran on air getting to the back of the boat as I passed the rod off to him.
Now we were fishing only a short distance from some trees so we had the drags totally cranked down to stop any fish from getting to them and safety.
Eric was putting everything he had on the rod and the fish was still ripping line off the reel. It lasted a frantic and short 3 or 4 minutes and snap. The leader gave up the fight and Eric never got the fish turned. He looked at me and I said dam. He came back with,"Mike, it was humungus." I couldn't help but giggle just a little.
I looked at my watch. It was 9:55. As we passed the time wandering and weighing that fish that swam off with my tru turn hook, another rod went down but popped right back up. That was at 11:00 o'clock. One fish broke off and one hard bite but no hookup. Not a good night flathead fishing but not a bad one either. At 1:30 we quit.
Eric wants to get that Tru-Turn hook back from what he guesses is an 80 pound fish. Comparing the hookset and pull I felt to the big spoonbill I've caught, I won't argue with him. 40 pound flatheads are the biggest I've got to the boat. Felt a few that I know were a whole lot bigger. But they broke off or swam into trees. I'll add that one to the list.
Mike Cook
July 4, 2013 - Yep, I'm still alive and fishing. 2 1/2 years ago the doctors were saying go in and say your goodbyes to him. Ha, what do they know. I'm still alive and fishing, minus a few toes. The writing juices don't flow as well as they once did, but the fishing fever is as strong as it's ever been. Enough of that. Let's get to the fishing.
Going back to this past spring, the crappie at Fall River and Cheney was super and super size. We had a couple of really good crappie trips at Marion in the early spring at Marion. The channel cats were as reliable as ever at Marion, Fall River and Kaw. Kaw also bave up some really nice blues.
There is only so much time in the day and so many things left to do and undone. El Dorado seemed to fit in that catagory. A half dozen trips there yielded only a few crappie and walleye. I just could not seem to get on them at El Dorado. That is going to change, I know it.
Meanwhile, summer is here. Marion has the blue algea. The water is rising and fish are biting at Cheney. As much as I want to get to Kaw and Fall River, Cheney is closer and dependable. Well, the yard needs mowed and the rental house has a roof leak. One last note. Call me if you have 40 to 80 acres for sale within 30 minutes of the city or you want to go fishing. I gotta get away! God bless and good luck fishing. Happy 4th.
September 7 , 2009 -Ken flew in from California to see Brian and his wifes new family addition. Congradulations, and they wanted to fish. So Saturday found me driving through the rain on 2-35 headeed out to Cheney. By the time I reached the town of Goddard the windshield wipers were off and my spirits were rising for a beautiful morning on the lake.
We met at the marina and once the introductions were through it didn't take me long to have the boat ready and off the trailor. The morning was overcast with 5 to 10 mph winds from the north east. Cold front had just past leaving us with unusually cool conditions for this area in August. I explained to Ken and Brian that I had been catching fish reccently in very shallow water. Brian was telling me of a reccent trip to lake Lewisville in Texas where they caught 55 nice channelsin a day of fishing but no pressure. Yea right! Okay so he gives mea half day to find them with cold front conditions. Brian adds in " No pressure Mike but there are five people at home wanting to have a fish fry." Well I just real matter of factly told him," well they should have come fishing then huh." With a big smile on my face. Brian is a pretty big ol' boy you see.
So the first place we anchored was on the west side hoping to catch fish feeding along the shoreline on the windy side of the lake. To shorten things up a little. Strike one. We moved a little north. Strike two. We moved a little deeper thinking the front had pushed them out a little. Strike three. Next guide. No I wasn't through yet. I told them we should try fishing yesterdays wind, explaining the wind the previous day was from the south and thought we should try fishing the north shore. Strike four. We moved out into eight feet of water to fish some submerged trees. Lot of baitfish showing up around the trees on the electronics. Good sign. Ken hooked a fish. FINALLY! A pattern was developing. Brian hooked a fish and commented that 4 people could eat now and I came back with better make lots of hushpuppies. Ken caught a couple more and Brian added another and things slowed down to nothing. We moved further into the cove and nothing more.
I suggested a sandbar that was usually good this time of year. We anchored on it in 2 feet of water and Brian set the hook on a nice channel and things started to brighten up on the boat. No not really. These guys were having fun the moment they stepped on the boat. They were a couple of super nice guys that would have been happy to just get out on the water and enjoy the day. Catching fish was just a bonus. The sandbar didn't produce anything else and time was running short. They had to be back in Wichita by 2:00 and I wanted to be off the water before the lake got busy on this holiday weekend so changed locations to an underwater rock pile.
The waves were hitting the rock pile pretty good as the wind had picked up some. We anchored up wind from it and it wasn't lond at all before Ken grabbed a pole that was bent double in the rod holder. Once he finnally managed to get the fish to the boat I slipped the net under his first double digit channel cat. Cameras came out and things got pretty busy after that and I kinda lost track of how things went but they caught a lot of big channels off that rock pile.
Ken said he couldn't wait to tell his guide buddy in Texas that they ain't got nothin' on us boys and our channel cats in KANSAS! Ken said our SMALLEST fish was bigger than their biggest on that Texas trip. Both Ken and Brian caught their biggest channels of their lives. And their fish fry would need no hushpuppies at all.
Just a side note about Sunday night at Cheney. I wanted to comment on the fireworks show. It was great as always but the number of boats on the water for it was amazing. I was expecting a couple of handfuls of boats like in the past but there were a couple of hundred Sunday night. It was like a little lit up city on the water. I was anchored up out of sailboat cove on the southern edge of the sailboats for the fireworks and as I looked out across the water there were red' green and white lights all over the lake. It was really cool. Hope you were there.
Post script; My apoligies for my lack of literary juices this past year. Without going into great detail I'll offer a short explannation and beg your forgiveness. A sudden and nasty divorce just blew me out of the water. It was, well I won't go into it but for those who were in touch through out, I can't thank you enough for your kindness and support. Now that I'm starting over I hope that I can keep the literary juices flowing. I'm feeling better every day now that everything is settled and over. Anyone out there that pours lead? Please contact me because I wasn't awarded my lead pouring stuff and am in need of sinkers and such. Thanks and tell your friends that I should be writing more soon.
May 19, 2008 - Howdy folks. It's been awhile.
Lot 's of stuff going on with me right now that I won't get into
just yet but I have been doing an awful lot of fishing. I had
a chance to enjoy a day on the water with a family of boys from
out west, mostly, and I would like to share that.
Once a year these guys get out and
fish together and I was the lucky one this year to take them
out. Two of them were not strangers to me as I had fished with
them once before. Merton and Miles Veeder. Father and son. Both
from Dodge City . On a previous trip they caught back to back
eight pound walleyes. Now how many times do you think that happens?
On this trip though they were joined by Mert's other son Mace
from Lawrence , Kansas and son in-law Sean Powell from Lenexa
, Kansas . The target species for this day was channel cat.
Marion Reservoir was about a foot high
and releasing 91 CFM. The wind was from the north at 10-15 in
the morning increasing as noon approached and dropping as the
4 pm hour came.
We baited up our dip bait worms with
Team Catfish Secret 7 dip bait. If ya'll haven't heard of this
yet let me tell you just a little bit about it real quick. I've
been using it since June of last year and can't say enough good
things about it. It's real consistent in texture from one batch
to the next. You don't have to worry about thinning it down or
thickening it up. Just go fish. And boy does it catch fish.
My step son Chris Decker and I fished
with it at a tournament at Texoma last month and took 8th place
out of 116 boats. And 1st and 2nd place were using the Secret
7 as well. A few weeks back I had a group out at Cheney and one
of them caught a channel catfish that was at least 20 pounds.
So the old saying that says stink bait won't catch big fish is
just that an old saying. I can't count the fish over 10 pounds
I've caught on dip bait. Well back to the fishing trip.
Our first anchor position was on a
little secondary point with a little bit of brush on it. The
wind was blowing in on it and Mert was the first to bring a fish
to the boat. Fact is smoked those boys about all day long. Miles
caught the next one and then Mert caught his second which weighed
in at 10 and half pounds. Don't know how it disappeard of my
camera. It was a dandy of a fish.
We headed to a rock pile where I have
been catching them pretty good lately and man did they keep me
busy huffing and puffing. We stopped for lunch about noon and
dressed the fish before heading into Hillsboro for a bite to
eat. 26 fish and 14 more would make their limit. We decided to
fish the upper end on the mud flats and see if we could find
some mere big ones. We didn't find one to beat the 10 and a half
but caught some really nice channels. All on Team Catfish Secret
7.
It was another great day on the lake.
Spent with great company and a lot of ribbing and laughter. It's
nice to see families make a special effort to get together for
an annual event. I'm glad in this case I was able to share the
experience.
Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - fourlake@cox.net
- 316-655-1541
January 1, 2008 - New Years Day at Kaw reservoir.
Wellllllllll, it started real good, once I chiseled the ice from
my drain hole for the boat and lubed the steering shaft with
w-d-40 cause the grease was so stiff.
The wind was up too much for me to anchor at the
first spot I wanted to fish. Pulling those cold wet icy anchor
ropes in was, well should have hired a guide. The second spot
I caught 6 nice crappie before the wind blew me off the brush
pile that was in 25 foot of water. The third spot produced no
fish. The fourth spot, despite the cold water I decided to set
out 3 anchors in hopes of holding me over the brush pile without
getting blown off. It worked but I still had to contend with
the boat moving a lot more than I wanted it to and the crappie
rods having an east west bend in them like they had 8 ounce sinkers
on them. I caught several more nice crappie under these less
than ideal conditions before crying uncle.
Also in attendance sailing the currents overhead
at Sarge Creek were three mature bald eagles that were beautiful
to observe on the blustery day. So all in all and to put it in
a nutshell and all that. IT WAS COLD AND WINDY! See ya soon.
Mike
November 25, 2007 - Despite the lack of
fishing reports and short stories it has been a great year of
fishing on the local reservoirs. That is if you throw out the
high waters that we had during summer. For now though the channel
cat is over for me unless I can get an ice out pattern going.
The flathead is over until we get some warmer water in April.
But there are always those big blues at Kaw which is what I'll
be doing and the jig fishing for let's just call them scaled
fish. Since you never know if it's going to be a crappie, wiper,
white bass or walleye that you are going to reel up at this time
of year while fishing a jig or spoon.
I'll try and get more postings next year. It was
a difficult year for me off the water for many reasons. Hopefully
those issues are left in 2007. 2008 is promising a brand new
year with a lot more time on my hands which means more time to
spend on the water and at this keyboard. So I'll see some of
you on the water in December and January and see you at the shows
in February. By the way , if you fished with me and liked my
boat, it's for sale. I'll be buying a Weld Pro.
See ya'll soon,
Mike Cook
October 16, 2007 - Fall
Fishing - Summer fishing was trying at best for me.
I just couldn't pattern anything with all the high water. The
last few weeks has been back to the wonderful fishing that one
expects from south central Kansas.
The channel cat has been fantastic. The crappie
fair and improving. The wipers good. But the walleye have still
been pretty tough for me. Things should continue to improve with
the cooling weather. I'm still seeing a lot of fishermen out
there.
More than in the past years, so word is getting
out on fall fishing. It's the best.
Talk to ya''l soon.
Mike Cook
September 5, 2007 - Trip
with winner of Zeiner's Angler Supply drawing - Do ya'll
remember Ron Smyth? He was the winner of the drawing for the
fishing trip with me back in the spring held at Zeiner's. Well
we got our trip in on Sunday, June 11th. Our day started about
6:30 am on Cheney Reservoir for channel cats. Ron brought his
good friend, John Soileaux to join in on the fun. It was a beautifully
cool Kansas summer morning with mostly cloudy skies and a slight
southeast wind. But we knew the heat was coming and decided to
start and finish early.
Our first anchored position was off of a bank where
the waves were gently rolling into several big cottonwood trees
that had been blown over and the branches were lying in about
2 foot of water. It was a great looking spot with perfect conditions.
Six lines in the water and it wasn't long before a rod in front
of me bounced once. I took it out of the rod holder and the fish
gave it a hard pull before I could get it into John's hands so
I set the hook and handed it to him and the fight was on with
the first fish of the day. John clearly had the upper hand on
this fish until it neared the boat. The heavy, fast action rod
took a serious bend then as the 30 pound test line sang as it
sliced through the water. The fish obviously didn't like what
was happening. It stayed down the whole time, never once coming
to the surface until it was played out. The sign of a good size
channel cat. I slipped the net under the cat as it started its'
last fight signature channel cat spin on top of the water. A
super nice six pound channel cat to start the day.
Hoops and hollers and out came the camera for some
quick photos and just as quickly, back to fishing. That was the
only fish to come out of that spot which was very surprising
as good as it looked. The next spot was a big goose egg. The
rest of the day was a fish here 2 fish there a fish here and
so on. Except for one spot where a creek channel dumped into
the river. There in about 8 foot of water we caught 6 or 7 fish
real quick for the fastest action of the day.
It was a great morning of Kansas summertime channel
cat fishing. But the Kansas summertime heat forced us to call
it an early day. 16 very nice Cheney cats was the end tally.
Everyone agreed, it was an excellent day spent fishing and with
great company. So Ron and John, thank you both and I look forward
to fishing with ya'll again real soon.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
October 5, 2006 - Fall
Fishing - Fall fishing is back. For the past 6 weeks,
limits of channels have come easy and big fish are showing up
more and more. I did have one slow trip to Kaw a couple of weeks
ago. Fish are shallow now and I can't stress that enough. I caught
a channel over ten pounds last week out of water less than a
foot. It mildly surprised even me. You have to remember that
shallow water heats and cools quicker than the main lake water.
I like the secondary points and the main lake points over the
coves this time of year. Especially right now with the lake levels
as low as they are now.
Yes, I'm still using the Cattracker line of dip
baits. Any bait will work though. I've used shrimp, worms, grasshoppers
and the list goes on and on. The cheesebaits just seem to produce
a lot faster than anything else does. Think about this. A catfish
is basically a big sensory organ. And like it or not, their job
is clean the bottom of the lake. When you hit that fish with
a big cloud of cheese smell it can't help but react. Now not
all fish are the same just as not all people or dogs are the
same. What I mean is that some cats may have more of a taste
for shad or white perch or this or that. But I've caught 20 pound
channels with their stomachs packed with white perch and they
still hit that little cheese bait worm. I've caught 40 pound
blues packed with shad and did the same. Unless those fish are
in a totally negative mood they will react to the dipbait.
Well get out there and enjoy some beautiful fall
weather and chase some channel cats. Remember to fish shallow
and you will put more cats in your boat right now.
July 3, 2006 - Cheney
& Marion - Fishing was fair to good over the July
fourth weekend for channel cats. Marion is still slow due to
the lake turning over.
Mike Cook
June
15, 2006 - Cheney - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - -
Do ya'll remember Ron Smyth? He was the winner of
the drawing for the fishing trip with me back in the spring held
at Zeiner's. Well we got our trip in on Sunday, June 11th. Our
day started about 6:30 am on Cheney Reservoir for channel cats.
Ron brought his good friend, John Soileaux to join in on the
fun. It was a beautifully cool Kansas summer morning with mostly
cloudy skies and a slight southeast wind. But we knew the heat
was coming and decided to start and finish early.
Our first anchored position was off of a bank where
the waves were gently rolling into several big cottonwood trees
that had been blown over and the branches were lying in about
2 foot of water. It was a great looking spot with perfect conditions.
Six lines in the water and it wasn't long before a rod in front
of me bounced once. I took it out of the rod holder and the fish
gave it a hard pull before I could get it into John's hands so
I set the hook and handed it to him and the fight was on with
the first fish of the day. John clearly had the upper hand on
this fish until it neared the boat. The heavy, fast action rod
took a serious bend then as the 30 pound test line sang as it
sliced through the water. The fish obviously didn't like what
was happening. It stayed down the whole time, never once coming
to the surface until it was played out. The sign of a good size
channel cat. I slipped the net under the cat as it started its'
last fight signature channel cat spin on top of the water. A
super nice six pound channel cat to start the day.
Hoops and hollers and out came the camera for some
quick photos and just as quickly, back to fishing. That was the
only fish to come out of that spot which was very surprising
as good as it looked. The next spot was a big goose egg. The
rest of the day was a fish here 2 fish there a fish here and
so on. Except for one spot where a creek channel dumped into
the river. There in about 8 foot of water we caught 6 or 7 fish
real quick for the fastest action of the day.
It was a great morning of Kansas summertime channel
cat fishing. But the Kansas summertime heat forced us to call
it an early day. 16 very nice Cheney cats was the end tally.
Everyone agreed, it was an excellent day spent fishing and with
great company. So Ron and John, thank you both and I look forward
to fishing with ya'll again real soon.
Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides
June 7, 2006 - Cheney
- El Dorado - Marion - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - I need
more hours in the day. I'm sure some of ya'll know exactly what
I mean. Anyway I'll get right to the fishing. Walleye has been
excellent at El Dorado this past month. Boating 30-40
fish a day. Seem to have 4 different year classes for the most
part. Every once in a while we will get that 30 inch fish but
not often enough. 10 keeper fish a day are common but you have
to work for them. Flatheads are active and moving around a bunch!
Cheney and Marion are consistantly allowing
40 fish days with fish ranging from littltle bitty to 14 pound
monsters. No 20's this year yet. But still trying.
Well that is it in a nut shell. Thanks to all of
you who used me this year and look forward to seeing some of
you again real soon.
Mike Cook
May 19, 2006 - Cheney
- Mike Cook
- Four Lake Guides - Great fish, wish I had taken my
sunglasses off. Linh Lenszuk fought this big ol' girl to the
boat on Mother's day, May 14th ,06 while fishing with me and
her husband Steve. We quickly weighed her and released her back
into Cheney.
February 27, 2006 - Kaw
- Mike Cook
- Four Lake Guides - Fishing February 25th at Kaw. Spent
the morning fishing for crappie because the wind was up to high
for me to fish for the big bad blues where I wanted to fish for
them. Did pretty good. I caught 25 crappie and 6 or 8 big white
bass. Kept a dozen of the bigger crappie for the tabble and a
couple of the smaller ones for bait for the blues which I started
fishing for them about 2 o'clock. Caught and released a half
dozen of them between 3 and 15 pounds. All in all a fun trip
although I should a fished longer for the blues.
Mike Cook
February 4, 2006 - El
Dorado and Marion - Mike
Cook - Four Lake Guides - El Dorado and Marion have been
giving up some really nice crappie to me lately. Not so good
on the numbers, but 8 to 14 inch fish.I have had a couple of
fishless days over the past month, but that is fishing.And if
you are fishing Marion and can come across a bunch of shad, rig
up a sassy shad and hold on for some wipers. I've been catching
5 to 8 pound fish on 8 foot fly rods with 6 pound line. Talk
about fun.El Dorado is about a foot and half low and Marion is
around a foot low maybe. The water is in great shape and you
can't beat the weather. The wind has been a bit strong most times
but it usually is. Good luck.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
October 31, 2005 - Fall
River - Fished Fall River Saturday. Had a cancellation
due to a customer being sick. Poor Clark sounded like death warmed
over on the phone. So what did I do on a day off? That's right.
I went fishing. Fished the river in the morning cause the wind
was blowing hard enough to straighten a 10 foot length of half
inch log chain. It was really cool though. The cool temperatures
lately and the wind blowing like it was, I've never seen leaves
fall like they did Saturday on the river at Fall River. I was
vertical jig fishing for crappie using 8 and 10 foot B&M
jig poles and every once in while a big leaf or twig would fall
and hit one of the poles and make it feel like a bite. I did
a whole lot of premature jerking. I did jerk up a half dozen
really nice crappie and I can't really say how many real small
ones. No white bass.
After eating lunch at 2 in the afternoon, I braved
the lake and wind and waves and shallow water on the north end
for cats. No luck on the flats around the river. I tried the
back of a few coves with the same results. I finally found them
on a wind blown point and man were they big channel cats. Eight
fish, 2 were 10 pounders. An 8, a couple of 6's and nothing under
4 for the rest. I decided that was enough fun for the day and
started back towards Ladd Bridge, because I had a long way to
go through some shallow water and it was getting dark fast. Going
to Missouri next weekend to see my Dad and Sister and her family.
My Grandmother there is wanting me to bring some fish to fry
and my Sister , her family and Brother and his family will meet
there for a good ol' fashion family fish fry. So no report next
weekend. But I'll talk to you when I get back.
Mike Cook
October 27, 2005 - Marion -
Hi Mike
Thanks
again for a great day on Marion. You sure know how to put us
onto the cats. And special thanks for giving my brother the best
day of fishing he's ever had.
Here are a few photos of a happy man and his best
catches of the day. For your notes, he's Jan Groves, my younger
brother and one of my favorite people.
We were thinking back on the day. The last stop,
on the south shore cove, was no more than half an hour. With
11 fish kept including all of the largest of the day, and two
released. It's as close to a catfish feeding frenzy as we've
ever seen.
it was a blast.
Take care and thanks again.
Russell Groves
October 24, 2005 - Marion - Saturday fishing at Marion
was very slow to get started. We had four fish in the boat at
1:00 o'clock. Then the bite happened or we found the fish or
God only knows what happened. But Terry and Bob limited out by
4:00 and that was good enough for them. Water temp dropped to
58 degrees. I'll send pics on a seperate e-mail. (Photographs
from left Scott Bull, Bob Gutshenritter, Jim Bull, Lynn Bull)
Mike Cook
October 18, 2005 - Cheney
-- Well the great fishing could'nt continue forever.
Finally had a real slow day. Four fish all day long. And it was
a 12 year old birthday present. Bummer! Talked to a couple of
Wiper fishermen. Same story with them. A couple of small fish
and that was it. No wind. Need some wind for a chop on the water
at Cheney To get the fish active. But it was a beautiful fall
day. A little warm maybe. Well it will be better fishing this
coming weekend. Gotta think possitive.
Mike Cook
A note from a happy customer that fished with me
a couple of times at Marion.
Mike
HELLO MIKE
HAVE NOT HAD A CHANCE TO ORDER FROM CATTRACKER BUT I WILL
POP WANTS TO KNOW WHEN DO YOU START GOING OUT IN 06 I THINK HE
WANTS TO GO AT LEAST 4 TIMES A YEAR OR MORE .
YA MADE A BIG IMPRESSION ON POP AND HE CANT STOP TALKING ABOUT
THE FISHING TRIPS.I WAS IMPRESSED ALSO.WE TRIED SOME OF THE STINK
BAIT AT THE HERINGTON RESIVOIR BUT JUST CAUGHT SOME REAL SMALL
CATS THEY WERE ABOUT 6IN LONG BUT HIT THE BAIT LIKE CHARLIE TUNA.
WELL THANKS AGAIN
JOHN & POP
721 N.D. STREET
HERINGTON,KS 67449
October 13, 2005 - Marion
-- Sorry for the lateness in this report. Saturday,
we hammered them again at Marion. Using Cat Trackers Jo Jo's
Poles Snatcher Bait. Water temp had dropped to 64 degrees. Sunday
was a tough day. Caught a dozen. But all were really nice fish.
Don't know why things were so slow. Picked up a fish here and
there, but could not find that big school where we could bend
one pole after the other. Water temp Sunday at Cheney was 62
degrees.
Mike Cook
October 3, 2005 - Marion
- Saturday 10-1 was quite slow for jig fishing on
crappie and white bass in the river at Marion. Caught a few nice
fish though. Maybe it was the fronts coming through, but it sure
was slow. We switched to channel cat after lunch and had a grand
ol' time until the rain and lightning made us make a run to the
boat ramp. Lots and lots of shad. you all know what that means.
Oh boy , oh boy. Fall and winter fish should be fat and sassy.
Mike Cook
September 26, 2005 - Marion
- This was another great weekend of catfishing. Three
of us limited out on channels at Marion Reservoir on Saturday.
Even releasing a few smaller ones. No big fish. Two to six pounds.
All really nice healthy looking fish. Same story on Sunday. We
were through fishing by 2 oclock in the afternoon on both days.
I just love fall fishing.
Mike Cook
September 20, 2005 - Marion
Hi Mike
Thanks again for a great day on Marion. You sure
know how to put us onto the cats. And special thanks for giving
my brother the best day of fishing he's ever had.
Here are a few photos of a happy man and his best
catches of the day. For your notes, he's Jan Groves, my younger
brother and one of my favorite people.
We were thinking back on the day. The last stop,
on the south shore cove, was no more than half an hour. With
11 fish kept including all of the largest of the day, and two
released. It's as close to a catfish feeding frenzy as we've
ever seen.
it was a blast.
Take care and thanks again.
Russell Groves
1065 140th
Hillsboro, KS 67063
620-947-5664
rpgroves1954@yahoo.com
September 11, 2005 - Windy
Weather - Too windy to fish. Rescheduled my trips
for October dates. Don't want anyone
to die. Especially me.
Mike
July 16, 2005 - Cheney - Ishika informed
me on the phone that her husband Dan and herself have been enjoying
the great sport of fishing for about 3 years, but with little
success. I told her my customers were doing very well this year
and with the high water, I saw no reason for things to be any
different. We scheduled a date for later in the week with high
hopes of having a great trip for channel cats at Cheney Reservoir.
On June 16th we met at the east shore boat ramp
in the late afternoon, due to them not being able to get away
from their busy business. The water was up into the parking lot
and I would guess it to be 5 or 6 feet high. I told Dan that
with the high water the fish should be up in the grass feasting
on worms.
Our first stop way back in a cove didn't produce
a bite. So after 15 minutes of no action we reeled them in and
headed to the north end where the river dumps into the lake.
We anchored just off of some willows that were flooded and after
2 or 3 minutes, Ishika got one on that took her into the trees.
We reeled in once again and moved into the trees to try and free
the hung up fish. It didn't take long and we had had our first
fish in the boat. A nice 3 pounder by my guess. We changed anchor
positions after making all the comotion freeing our first fish
from the brush.
We anchored about 100 feet from
where we caught the first fish and started baiting and casting
our Wicked Sticky. The third bait hit the water and Ishika screamed
she had on another one. The second bait got hammered. The rod
was doubled over and the water exploded 30 feet away from the
boat at the edge of the willows. Nice fish I told her. She pumped
the fish in not at all easy for that 30 feet. When it got to
the boat, it broke water and took out that 30 feet she had just
fought so hard to recover. When the fish finally came to net
it was a monstrous 12 pound 34 inch beauty. After the congratulations
I told her we needed to release the fish. She asked if that was
the law and I told and explained that I release all my channels
over about 8 pounds because they are not that good to eat once
they grow that big and every one wants to catch a big fish and
if we take them home our chances of catching a big one gets slimmer
with each one we take home. And lastly, a big fish like that
makes lots of babies. She agreed and we quickly took some photos
and slid the big trophy back into the water to thrill someone
on another day.
Our next few stops were fruitless.
It was starting to get dark and a storm was building way out
to the west. So with the wind picking up and lightning flashing
in the far away western sky we set up in the back of a cove with
the waves rolling in from the lake. It wasn't long and Ishika
again pulled in the first fish. I told Dan, It looks like she
is going to be the only one of us to catch any fish today. Then
Dan's rod bent. Then his other rod bent and I was busy unhooking
fish and rebaiting lines. Just the way I like it.
As the fishing slowed down and with
the storm getting closer, we decided to call it a day. With a
nice mess of channels, we raced back to the boat ramp with lightning
and rain closing in on us fast. Bringing to an end of another
great day of channel cat fishing on Cheney Reservoir.
June 19, 2005 - Cheney and Marion
With all the high water , fishing has been fabulas
at Cheney and Marion
reservoirs for the past couple of weeks. Been to busy to write
about all of
them but I will get you one with photos real soon. Thanks
Mike
May 10, 2005
El Dorado Walleye
Walleye fishing has been improving steadily for the past several
weeks as
the spawn is winding down. Numbers of fish should make most anyone
happy but you'll still have to catch quite a few fish before
you get you're legal
limit of 18" keepers. So take plenty of crawlers. We are
catching fish on
the post spawn sites now. Sites such as the flats, points, lower
sections of
the creeks and the river and still some around the dam.
Catfish
Catfishing is good and bad. I've had some great trips over the
past several weeks at Cheney, Marion and Kaw. But due to the
weather patterns, I've had some prewtty tough days too. Last
week I found 70 degree water on the upper end of Marion with
spawning carp activity and hungry channnel cats. With the cold
nights this past week, water temps are back down to the low 60s.
Mothers day night thunder storms and forecast highs in the 80s
should
drastically improve the catfishing.
Cheney Hybrids
The Wiper fishing at Cheney is so good it is hard to put into
words, but
I'll try. We have been catching and releasing fish up to 27'
long with
girths about the same and these fish know how to use those inches.
First
catch you some white perch then use a 5/0 or 6/0 tru turn hook
and fish the
points or the upper end the lake and hold on. These fish are
real tackle
busters and light tackle is not the way to go.
So get out and stretch a line and let us at the
Kansas Angler know how you
do.
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December 16, 2004 - El Dorado - Can't seem
to get the writing juices flowing. Sorry. I fishing E.D. thursday
and couldn't get the walleye to bite. The crappie were real slow
also but there was a great bite on big white bass. Look for them
in 15-25 feet of water in the upper end of the lake. Slab spoon
with a jig tied a foot or so above it has been doing the trick
for me.
Mike Cook
April 16, 2003 - Kaw -
I fished Kaw over the weekend for crappie and bombed.
It was a muddy mess. Fished El Dorado too and did very well on
walleye again. Same pattern as before. Still only catching males.
Mike
April 6, 2003 - Cheney/El
Dorado - Walleye fishing has been sporadic recently.
They are well into the spawn. Saturday Clark and I started at
Cheney but after a couple of hours of fishing and only a few
white perch we packed up and headed to El Dorado were we caught
a few last weekend. You remember Clark, He's my number one client.
Any way we found them pretty quick. With a lot of cloud cover
and a strong northeast wind blowing we limited out on keepers
with a few shorts. No big ones. All fish measured between 18
1/2 and 20 inches. We quit about 4:30 so we could get home and
see the second half of KU put a whippin on Marquette. We caught
all our fish on a jig and crawler anchored on a spawning area.
They all wanted this funny pinkish pourple color I painted up.
We had other colors in all day but every fish came on the same
color. Funny how color makes such a big difference from one day
to the next. By the way cat fishing is really starting to pick
up too. Mike Cook
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January 29, 2003 - New
regulations in place for Cheney Reservoier
I hope everyone caught Mr. Pierce's newspiece in the paper last
week. For
those of you who didn't here goes.I contacted Gordon Scheider,
the Reno
County fisheries bioligist for the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and
Parks. He
happily informed me that the legislature acted promptly in passing
his
suggestions of the new regs. concerning walleye and wipers at
Cheney
reservoir. He is busy gathering up signs to be posted at Cheney
on these new
regs. They will go into effect as soon as the signs are posted,
so ya'll pay
attention and look for them. Any way the new regs will be like
this. Two
walleye per person a day and they have to be 21 inches or longer.
Also two
wipers a day and they too must be 21 inches or longer. Let's
all support
these efforts cause if you don't we will continue to have to
deal with the
white perch problem. And you might find yourself in a world of
*&#%. I do
wish they would include stocking some blues with their plans
of battle
against the white perch. But these are probably purely selfish
reasons. If
anyone feels the same, take a minute and post it on this site.
For or
against. Thanks.
Mike Cook
December 12, 2002 - The past several weeks has been outstanding
crappie fishing about everywhere I've been. The only place I
wouldn't reccomend is Kaw in
Oklahoma. The water is pretty muddy. But give it a few weeks
and it should
turn on too.
You should look for these winter crappie schooled
up in 20-30 feet of
water. Creek and river channels are good bets as are dam sites
and
causeways.Use your electronics. The fish are usually packed and
stacked and
are extremely easy to find. All the area lakes are producing
nice size fish
with outstanding numbers.
I've been fishing crappie tube jigs with two 1/16
ounce leadheads. Color
has not made a difference. Doubles have come frequently. Hope
you are able
to get out if you haven't already.
Mike Cook
November 5, 2002 - Whew, what a summer.
I guess an update is long overdue. I haven't guided since back
in June. I have done some fishing here and there, but most of
my time and energy has been devoted to my fight with cancer for
those of you who didn't know. Chemotherapy followed by surgery
a couple of weeks ago and things are looking real good. I think
I'll go fishing tomorrow.
Thanks to all for your prayers, cards, plants and
well wishes. There were
some tough times and your thoughtfulness was appreciated more
than ya'll can
know.
What I really want to do is talk about fishing
though, so let me jump right
in. We should have another 3-4 weeks of good channel cat fishing.
Marion and
Cheney Reservoirs provided some outstanding channel cat fishing
this past
year. I fished Marion right before I went in for surgery. A wet
cold front
was forcasts for that morning and they were right on the money.
The wind was
howling from the north at 25-30 mph, so I stayed on the some
what protected
flats on the upper end. I couldn't escape the wind, but at least
I didn't
have to contend with big waves. Fishing was as slow as the rise
in
temperature. By noon, I had tangled with only three fish. It
was just one of
those tough days.
I was enjoying myself though, just being out on
the water. I had the whole
lake to myself and despite being tired and beat up by a wet and
windy mother
nature I decided to hang around and see what the afternoon had
to offer. I
did feel a break from the wind and a little lunch would go a
long way. A
trip up the river was easier said than done though due to the
low water
level and having to aake my way into the wind with the outboard
drastically
tilted up. With a little persistance and some careful navigating,
I was
finally able to make my way across the stump ridden shallow flats
and into
the murky, wind protected waters of the Cottonwood River.
Things looked better already. I waved at the only
pair of anglers I saw all
day as I slowly idled by. I enjoyed watching hundreds of big
pelicans having
an easy time with the abundant shad as I continued up the river
for a couple
of miles. I finally beached the boat on the outside of a sharp
bend in the
river where the shad seemed to be thicker than any place downriver.
I dipped
a worm in my bucket of Cat Tracker and tossed it out the back
of the boat
into 4 1/2 feet of water. I followed that with a second and dug
out the cold
bisquets and gravy I brought from the cafe that morning. I poured
a cup of
hot coffee and wouldn't you know that first pole bounced.
I sat there for the next several hours and caught
and released channel cats
at about 1 evey 3-4 minutes. The bisquets and gravy was a little
slow in
getting down. But a hookset is more important than a cold 6 hour
old
breakfast. Even after 50 fish.
Mike Cook, Four Lake Guides
June 12, 2002 - I was in Zeiners yesterday afternnon picking
up my replacement pair of Solar Bat Sunglasses. The first pair
blew off the dash of my boat at Cheney.
So if you hook um and bring them up, wear them in good health,
they are fine
eyewear.
Anyway, Steve and I decided to try for some walleye
before the storms blew
in. Steve Ryan is the manager of Zeiners Angler Supply for those
of you who
don't know. Stop in and ask him about the details of the trip.
We had a lot
of fun. He'll be happy to bend your ear. But for now I'll cover
the
highlights.
We started fishing about 7:30 and lightning ran
us off at 9:30. In that
short time he caught his largest walleye ever. A fat 22"
fish. Way to go
Steve. We also caught and released 14 other nice walleye. All
but a few
keeper fish. He did keep his limit of 5 to take home to his Dad.
But who can
blame him.
We also caught a number of white bass, White perch
and drum. At one point
we had four walleye on at one time. That was pretty exciting!
Like I said
stop and and see him and he'll give you all the details.
I can't say enough good things about this walleye
fishery. And the channel
cat fishing is even better. So come on out to the lake and join
in the fun.
I'll see you there.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
June 10, 2002 - June 7th 02 - Clark brought
a friend Gary. The morning was pretty uneventful, light south
wind blowing only allowed us to put one keeper in the live-well.
But I explained that the afternoon had been producing the better
bite lately and we should do well after lunch.
So
with full bellies and a renewed confidence we hit the water again
and found hungry walleyes! We had a lot of fun until we needed
one more fish to fill our limit. That last fish was a real bugger
to get to the net. Click photograph for larger image.
Twice , Clark had a nice fish on, only to have
them come loose before getting them on to the boat. Then I set
the hook on a heavy fish that took some drag and came off. Finally,
Gary showed us how it was done by boating a nice 20 incher. A
fine end to a fine day!
June 9th, 02 - This trip almost didn't happen.
Kevin McDaniels should have been at the hospital with the delivery
of his first grandbaby! But he braved the wrath
of his wife and fishing partner Art Hartshorn to try his hand
at Cheney's
walleye.
Unlike
the Friday before, This Sunday found the wind howling and the
skies overcast. I speculated that this morning would likely be
slow while the afternoon would likely provide a better bite.
The fish proved I didn't know what I was talking about! The first
drift gave up 4 fish over 20"! Gotta love that wind! Click
photograph for larger image.
About 9:00am Kevin received a phone call informing
him of the delivery of a 8 1/2 POUND BABY BOY!!! CONGRATULATIONS
GRANDPA!! At 9:30am I dropped the 10th fish into the live-well
and it was catch and release for the rest of the day. but fishing
was so good I had to take 5 for myself. I'll say we caught &
released 40-50 fish this day! I'm sure they will be back to ply
the waters of Cheney for some more hog eyes!
A little safety note to pass along, When the wind
is howling at 30mph plus,
USE CAUTION!. Some of the boats we saw Sunday should not have
been on the
water. If you are like me and just have to fish, go see the folk's
at
Wichita Marine for a big Sea Ark boat that will handle mother
nature's
worse! Some of the smaller 12-16 foot boats we saw Sunday would
just
disappear behind waves from time to time.
A 20' Bayfisher from Sea Ark will let you concentrate
on fishing and not
worry as much about how big the waves are getting. Happy Fishing
to all of
you and bless the wind in Kansas. - Mike Cook, Four Lake Guides
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June 4, 2002 - I guided a couple of parties
over the weekend at Cheney. Our target species for both days
was Walleye. Saturday offered a nice 20 mph wind that allowed
us to boat 4 nice keeper fish with a few shorts by 10:00am. The
fish fell to swimming jigs tipped with half a crawler. We switched
to trolling tactics till noon hoping to get away from the white
perch but didn't produce any more fish.
After taking a break for lunch, we returned to
drifting jigs and crawlers
and found a great afternoon big fish bite. We easily filled our
limit. Then
caught and released a few more before giving in from being beat
by the wind and waves.
Sunday found us arriving at Cheney to white caps
rolling across the lake.
The south wind was blowing 20-30 mph with higher gusts. But that's
just what big walleyes like. My guests this day was a father
and son team of avid
anglers with a lot of experience on a multitude of different
species. Steve
and Seth Woolson, both of Wichita, were excited about trying
for Cheney
Walleye. Clark fished with me the day before by the way.
Of course, I informed them about the excellent
bite that was occurring. So it was show time. Our first three
drifts across the point only produced a
few white perch bites. These fish have a jack hammer type bite
which is far
different from the way a walleye sucks in a jig and crawler.
I explained how
to point the rod tip at the fish, giving it a couple of feet
of line. As the
line tightens and you feel the weight of the fish, then set the
hook. They
got it real quick and we enjoyed a fine morning of catching big
walleye.
After lunch and a rough ride back across the lake,
we picked up where we
left off. I can't believe Seth didn't lose his lunch. He ate
a double
cheeseburger from Creations. Those are huge burgers if you haven't
ate
there. He's the man! Anyway, you know you have a great fishery
when you are catching and releasing fat 24 inch walleye. And
thats what we did. Late in the afternoon we finally succumbed
to the wind, waves, sun and arm fatigue from battling hog walleyes
on fly tackle. One last wet ride across the now 4 footers and
it was the perfect end to a perfect day spent with great people.
Thanks guys. I had as much fun as ya'll did.
If you would like some of these swimming jigs or
the fly rods, see Steve
at Zeiner's Angler Supply. He knows what I use and the advantages
this tackle
offers. Good fishing to all of you and I'll see you at the lake.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
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June 1, 2002 - Hi Folks,
Sorry it has been so long! I've been busy with a lot of FISHING.So
many fish so little time! Just wrapped up a fun shoot for Cabela's.
Cat fishing with the PRO'S,a how to video to be released this
fall. We were using WICKED STICKY by Cat Tracker. It's a bait
they have been developing over the past year and I have had the
privilege of using during that time.
Well It's available to the public now and you got
to try this one! I can't say enough about this bait! See for
yourself on the video, but don't wait till then to try it! It
has out-produced everything I've fished side by side with it.
The fish hit hard and run!
It works great at all the lakes I fish and a couple county lakes
I've tried it at. It was really hard fishing with this bait over
the past year and not being able to talk about it. But Zeiner's
Angler Supply has it in stock now, so stop by and pick up a case
before it is all gone.
This has been a great year of fishing so far. The
winter crappie fishing was excellent and has continued thru the
spawn which is going on now. The cat fishing is always great
and the walleye hasn't held up to last years fishing but Cheney
is still probably the best in the state
So if you've been out this year, Hope you have
done well. If you haven't, you are missing out on a very good
year of FISHING.
P.S e-mail address change to fourlake@cox.net
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May is off to a wonderful start. Cheney walleye
fishing is just phenomenal. Lots of fish, lots of keeper fish.
Take plenty of nightcrawlers. Clark and I fished the Special
Olympics tourney at El Dorado May 5th. We caught lots of shortys
and weighed one fish for the 2 oclock hour, 3.88. But it wasn't
big
enough. We had fun and the tourney raised over $5500. for the
cause. Folks
were catching crappie as we were weighing fish, hint hint.
Sunday was kinda slow for walleye at Marion. But
we did bring a 26 incher to the net with a number of short ones.
Struck out on crappie, but the channels
were frisky and supplied a lot of fun.
Tuesday May 8th was spent making a wonderful memory
for an 84 year old gentleman and his son and son in-law. Monster
channel cat hammered our
offerings. A 15 and 12 pounder were big fish for the day and
only 2 fish
were under 4 pounds.
The fish in our Kansas waters are hungry now, so
get out and bend a pole.
You are sure to have a great time for the next couple of months.
Mike Cook Four Lake Guides
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Mar 16, 2001 - Blessed
is this first spring rain in Wichita. The previous two days had
been so nice and warm. Did you notice all the bugs? And the night
crawlers have found their way to the warm surface. Now this.
Well, if you look at the weather from a catfisherman's point
of view, You were probably out on some creek or river. If not,
I'm sorry you weren't.
The first dumping of rain found Judy and I struggling
with bent poles out at Cheney on March 15th. This is a favorite
pattern I fish, targeting channel cats as they dine on the smorgasbord
coming in with the fresh water. We found lots of hungry forktails
still fat from the last shad kill. Although the weather was miserable,
we hauled in 13 in 45 minutes at the first creek. 17 in an hour
at the second creek and that was all the cold wet weather we
could take.
Didn't make it up on the river, although I'll bet
the fishing was just as good up there. We were worried about
the roads icing up and it kept getting colder and colder.
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Submitted Jan. 2 - I spent the last day
of the year in search of a double digit striper or wiper. Not
on this day. But it was a wonderful day. My niece's husband Brian
was with me to see how many miles we could put on the ice.
Our game plan was to follow the river channel out from Andale
Road,
stopping and fishing the major pointson the west side of Cheney
Reservoir.
We arrivedat the lake with enough snow falling
to obscure the oppisite shore
from sight. And to our amazement, a tent camper, ready yo be
the first one
on the ice. Now I,ve done a little tent camping in the snow.
Properly
prepaired, it is a wonderful experience. If not it is a long
night.
The wind was light and the snow was 2" deep
as we dragged our sleds to the
first point. With such good footing we decided to continue down
the lake to
the far reaches of safe ice and work our way back north. We stopped
at the
point north of Wenzel Cove having run into layered ice. The layering
happens
as sheets of ice freezes and thaws and freezes again. This is
extremely
unsafe ice folks. Back up.
It wasn't long before Brian was hooked up to the
first fish. The fish bent
the 6' jig pole double and ripped off line on its first run.Brian
threw the
fighting lever on the drag to lite to prevent the hook from tearing
out and
to ensure the 6# mono wouldn't snap. After a 4 minute battle
I lipped his
first ice wiper. A few quick photos and the 4 pounder went back
into the
hole. He will be a lot funner in a couple of years.
We drilled a few more holes in the area and produced
enough big fish to
keep us there hoping for the monster we came for. In 18-20 foot
of water we
caught a variety of fish including white bass, wipers and walleye.
At 1:30
we witnessed someone fallinf through the ice at a distance of
1000 yards. 6
people were to him in less than 2 minutes. With the aid of a
rope they were
able to drag him to safety and a warm truck.
This disturbing sight caused us to re-evaluate
our situation on seemingly
safe 4 inch ice. We quickly reeled in and left our big fish honey
hole in
search of another and safer ice. No photo or fillet is worth
my risk or
yours.
We fished the rest of the day drilling and moving.
Trying different depths
on the pointsalong the north west side. I was relieved to see
many folks
returning fish. The previous week I watched truckloads of whites
taken off
the ice on the north end. You don't have to keep every fish people.
It's
alot funner going home to a fire place than it is going home
to clean frozen
fish. Practice catch and release. At least selective harvest.
Our tackle for the day consisted of 6' medium action
rods from Zeiner's
Angler Supply. Shimano Spirex 2000 reels packed with 6# Trylene XL.
1/4 ounce
castmaster spoons, little cleos worked well too.
If you go, be sure to include some safety items.
A 30 foot rope with a boat
cushion tyed to it. Ice cleats for sure footing. A couple of
screwdrivers on
a short rope with a float. Hang it around your neck. You can
use these to
claw your way back up on the ice if you fall through. Practice
with them. If
you're afraid of what your neighbors will think. Come practice
on my
driveway. My neighbors have seen it.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
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Submitted - October 19, 2000 - The Johnson
boys were in town from San Antonio with a family member ill in
the hospital. After 11 days sitting in a hospital they needed
a break. The previous day we talked on the phone about catching
some white bass. We should catch over 100 as I had them pinpointed
in a half mile section of the Cottonwood River, I told them.
Well that night brought 3 inches of rain to the
area. The fish were there as we marked them on the fish finder.
But we could only snag the fish as the water had turned to chocolate
with 0 visability. We can cancel or try some channel cat fishing
I suggested. Both agreed cats would be fun.
We started by fishing the creeks coming into the
river. At one of these stops we all experienced a first. Four
poles in the water and the first bent
right away. As the son fought the big channel the father yelled
advice.
After a 5 minute battle the I slipped the net under a 30 inch
channel as
another pole bent.
As the second fight started a raccoon showed up
on the bank to find out what all the excitement was about. With
the splashing of the hooked fish and the first fish flopping
in the bottom of the boat, the coon couldn't stand
it. He hit the water on a beeline for the boat. Well that coon
and the
catfish arrived at the boat at the same time. The coon wanted
in the boat
and the cat wanted away. The coon couldn't make it in as it clawed
at the
side of the boat. Meanwhile the younger Johnson tried to make
up line that
the big cat had unspooled. I on the other hand, being a professional
guide,
didn't know what to do.
I flipped the landing net around and nudged the
coon away from the boat. It didn't seem to bother the little
guy too much as he swam around to the front of the boat. About
that time the fish comes to net and I laid another 30
inch fish flopping in the boat bottom with the other. Among the
fish were
numerous rigged (with hooks) rods, tackle, coolers, anchors,
dip bait and
such.
Well that little coon swam around to the other
side of the boat, climbed up the brushpile we were tied too,
and into the boat. After a split second of astonishment, panic
and nightmares of forthcoming lawsuits. It's amazeing how much
can go through the mind in such a short period of time. I quickly
reached down, grabbed the coon by the scruff of the neck and
pitched him out of the boat before either of us reallized what
I was doing.
I looked at the elder Johnson with his mouth ajar
in disbelief. "Well I'm 84 years old and I ain't never seen
nothin' like that before," he said. I
agreed as I reached for the camera. "Here he comes again,"
the elder said. I
looked up as the coon reached the side of the boat. Really not
wanting the
mess the coon would make in the boat I reached down, plucked
him from the
water and tossed him away from the boat. Again and again. Each
time the
little fellow would splash down and paddle directly back to the
boat.
Finally, the fifth time, I tossed him clear to
the bank where he landed
with a thud. He sat there and watched as we took a few photos.
I broke a
stick off the brushpile and dipped it in the bait and tossed
it to him. He
picked it up, licked it, dropped it and watched us until we left.
He wanted
the main course or nothing.
We caught lots of fish between 8-12 pounds that
day from 2 foot of water or less."I'm 84 years old and I
ain't never seen," was heard several times that day. You
never know about fishing.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
Submitted - October 18, 2000 - The day dawned
cloudy and drizzly as I shook hands with Sam and Nita Phillips
of Winfield Kansas. We were targeting walleye on this day late
in May. The post spawn fish had been fickle the past couple of
weeks after an off and on spawn. I suggested we try channel cat
as the recent rains had them active and it would be more action.
"No, we just want to enjoy the
day and maybe catch our first walleye," Sammy said. My kinda
folks. So with 10 foot fly rods and lite spinning reels
with 6 pound mono, we drifted swimming jigs tipped with crawlers
across a
major point at Marion Reservoir.
I explained the bite would be a peck, peck or a
slight bend in the rod tip. Point the rod at the fish giving
a couple of feet of line. As the line tightens, feel the resistance
of the fish and cross his eyes. That will allow the fish to get
the jig and crawler in its mouth and not just the crawler.
Sam caught on real quick, catching the first few
fish, while Nita struggled for patience in setting the hook.
The fish were really biting today as we caught good numbers of
sub-legal fish. 18 inch minimum. I suggested we try a long, narrow
rock pile off the tip of the point, hopeing for some keeper size
fish.
On the first pass, Nita's rod doubled
over. After a short tussle I slipped
the net under a nice 26 inch walleye. Then Sam doubled up. I
took one rod
and handed it to Nita. We drifted that rock pile for the next
few hours
catching and releasing 22-26 inch walleye on every pass until
our 3 dozen
crawlers were gone and we were useing half at a time.
I cleaned a half dozen for the couple at the end
of the day. "we sure
enjoyed the day," Sam said. Thanks Sammy. I did too.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
Submitted - October 10, 2000 - Things got
busy at our fifth anchor position of the morning. We caught five
fish before this spot. We had twenty two when we left a short
time later. The fish came fast, with multiple doubles. Gary Vandergrift
(Gig) of Vandebuilt Construction was enjoying his third trip
of the year with his son Robert and I. This time as with the
first time, Jimmy Cantlon was along for the fun.
Marion Reservoir was 2 foot below normal pool level,
so that left the
shallow flats at the north end totally inaccessable. We targetted
the wind-
blown points as an alternative to finding some nice channels.
It was a cold
north one at that on this chilly October day. Temperatures started
with a
low of 42 degrees and rose to a balmy 48.
Using CatTracker products as always. Jo Jo's worked
a little better
than the Sewer bait on this day. But it was close. We dropped
two anchors
one to port and one to starboard at each stop and as long as
we caught fish
we stayed.
Robert, a fine young man who enjoys playing baseball
on a number of
different teams a year, caught the big fish of the day. A pretty
8 pound
channel which he kissed on the lips before smiling and releasing
it back in
the water. This 12 year old has my vote for MVP. I traded him
a brand new 7
foot Aurora Pro Cat 1 Rod for a couple of Major League Baseball
tickets to
see him play. A good trade I think.
We had a fun day on the water catching 35 fish
between 2 and 8 pounds.
We kept 9 that swallowed the hook and those were the small guys.
If you want to call a solid 2 pound channel small. Robert likes
the small ones. Says
they are pretty. Silver sides and speckles all over them. Robert
Vandergrift
for MVP!!! But he sure liked it when that 8 pounder saw the boat
and tested
the Aurora tackle he was useing. I can't wait for next time.
Hopefully that
8 will turn into a 10 or 12 or...
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides
Submitted - September 18, 2000 - Thursday
I fished Kaw for channel cat. Using fall shallow water tactics
produced six fish in a couple hours on the water. Saturday I
headed a couple hundred miles north to Marion hoping to find
cooler shallow water. I found hungry cats, 32 to be exact. A
couple of 29 inch fish too. The fish were biting lakewide. Everywhere
I fished I caught fish. Sunday was a little different at Cheney.
I caught 17 2-4 pound fish but they all came from the same point.
A dozen spots failed to produce a fish.
Now you know I was using Junnie's Cat Tracker Products. Jo Jo's
Pole Snatcher was the blend of bait along with a variety of Cat
Tracker worms. The Marion fish didn't show a preference for worms.
The Cheney fish wanted the Tubie 2000 worm in the crawfish pattern,
as 14 of the 17 fish caught were on that worm. The fish were
hitting hard. Several times my Aurora rods nearly touched the
water. That Pole Snatcher bait really is an exciting bait to
use.
All fish were released. Tell Deb we should have a great day on
the
water September 30th. I hope her knee is doing well. I'll get
to the boat
brakes this week. I need to get tires for the boat trailer this
morning as
they are showing belts. It's always something you know.
Submitted - September 1, 2000 - September.
Ahh, relief from the heat. Doves flying south with the Monarchs
as the first cool front of the year inches down from the north.
That also brings our reservoir shad into the cooling shallow
water. And right on their little fins are lots of big hungry
channel cats.
Most Kansas outdoorsmen turn their attention to
hunting doves and hanging tree stands. While that's a lot of
fun, you need to get it done and enjoy the bounty of fall treasures
that Kansas waters offer. Fishing with
uncountable (well hundreds anyway) numbers. They hit hard and
often this
time of year. The heat is gone (almost) with chilly mornings
and balmy
afternoons. It's a wonderful time to be on the water.
White bass and wipers schooling on shad is always
an unnerving sight with
unbelieveable action. Walleye action picks up real good with
drifting and
trolling tactics. Crappie hit small jigs with reckless abandon.
But the real
treasures are those shallow channel cats.
From September through November, big, hungry channels
come shallow to
feast on these shad. This is the best time of year to score on
cats. They are an
easy cast from the bank and usually in big groups. I go through
a lot of
Cattracker dip baits and worms this time of year. One hundred
fish days are more the norm than not. It's faster than you can
imagine if you've never done it.
So restring those big baitcasters and take those
heavy rods to the lake this
fall for a good bending. Take plenty of Cattracker dip baits
and worms too.
No one wants to quit while they are biting.
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